Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat!

Finally finished another chapter. Hope you like it!

The snow had finally stopped falling and Kyoko had just begun to take in the enchanted beauty of the rest of world around her.

"This place is amazing! Oh! Do you know where Maria-chan went?" Kyoko looked at up the flowers, curious about where the pixie had wandered off to.

"No. The goddess stays very busy. She always has stuff to do!"

"Don't lie to the girl. You know as well as I do that she's just gone to spend some time with that Hatter."

"Don't reveal the Goddess's secrets!"

"Hatter? Who's that?" The flowers looked down at Kyoko, surprised.

"You really are an outsider, aren't you?"

"Everyone knows the Hatter. He's honestly a very twisted man, always using tactics to manipulate people, and our poor Goddess has fallen into his trap."

"No, no. He's a very charming man. Always bringing joy to others with his smile."

"Oh. He sounds nice. Well, I think I'll get going now. I want to try looking for Corn."

"Ummm, I don't think any corn grows here."

"Hmmm? Oh, no he's an old friend."

"I see, well take care of yourself. And use this if you need to call upon the Goddess. But don't use it too much!" One of the flowers took out a bell out of thin air and threw it to Kyoko. It was small, but beautiful, with Kyoko's name engraved on it.

"Thank you so much!" Kyoko placed it in the little pocket that was on the side of her dress. She said her goodbyes and left to explore the world of Wonderland. Once she was out of the forest of flowers she stepped into a world that was beyond her wildest dreams. There were extravagant skyscraping trees that formed amazing structures with their intertwining branches and leaves with beautiful engravings in the bark. All of them were covered with millions of tiny pink blooming flowers, and as the wind blew, their petals sprinkled down on Kyoko's head. There was a river running through the land, though due to Kyoko's small size, it looked like an enormous, but serene ocean, flowing gently and harboring many exquisite fish of all sorts of colors and designs.

"Hello!" Kyoko waved to the fish in the river, they looked up at her, and with a hint of a smile, they continued swimming, flashing different colors as a way to greet her back. Kyoko looked up at the sky, which seemed to be painted silver as it glowed a sparkly light. As she looked back down, she took in the ground as well, which was covered with magnificent bright blue pebbles, smooth and perfectly snug in their respective spots. This world was definitely unlike any other. Kyoko continued to look around and noticed a huge white fur ball running through the trees. Was that a…rabbit…with a vest?

"Wait!" Kyoko ran after him as he hopped into a tangled mess of branches and vines. Kyoko tried to keep up with him, but soon found herself lost and stuck in tightly wrapped twigs. She struggled to free herself, but only found herself even more bound in the prison of vines. She tried to reach her pocket in hopes of getting out her bell to call Maria-chan, but to no success.

"Help! Is anyone there?" Suddenly she felt the branches and twigs pulling away from her as she was freed. She looked around for her rescuer, but she saw no one.

"Hello?"

"Whooo aaaarre yoouuu?" Kyoko turned and saw a caterpillar sitting on a rock, lifting his head high with status.

"Ewww! A big ugly bug!" Kyoko brought her hands in front of her face as if to shield herself.

"What? You have something against bugs? Well, in that case I suggest you get out of these woods. I'm not going to help you!"

"Help me?" Kyoko peeked from her hands and looked at the caterpillar again. Her eyes widened as big as they could get.

"Sawara-san?"

"Sawa…no, I'm the great, wise caterpillar of the woods."

"Oh, but you look like…someone I know."

"Oh, is that so. Well, we clearly have never met before."

"Ok, so what's your name?"

"Caterpillar."

"What?"

"My name's Caterpillar."

"…That's it? Just Caterpillar? I like Sawara-san better. Can I call you that? Maria-chan let me call her what I wanted to call her."

"Maria? Who's…never mind, no you can't call me Sawara-san. But if you really want to give me a name, then some people also call me Absolem."

"Absolem-san? I guess that's ok."

"So do you want my help?"

"What do you mean? With what?"

"Well, you're an outsider, aren't you? And you say you've seen people here with familiar faces from your world?"

"Yes, yes I have. Can you really help me? Well, can you please tell me where exactly I am?"

"I can. I know everything from around here. But I'm not telling you anything because I don't deem you worthy of this knowledge." Absolem crossed his arms and closed his eyes and turned his head away from Kyoko. Suddenly, he felt the air around him tighten and felt a pressure around him. He slowly opened his eyes and looked back towards Kyoko. He screamed in surprise to see Kyoko standing right in front of him with a menacing look on her face.

"Tell me more about this place!"

"N-no, I won't!"

"I won't leave until you tell me!" Kyoko's little helpers flew out of her and began squeezing and clawing Absolem.

"W-what's going on?" Absolem tried to free himself from the invisible beings around him, but he couldn't. He tried his best to stay strong but finally had to accept defeat.

"O-ok, I'll tell you!"

Exhausted, Absolem started explaining to Kyoko about everything he knew.

"This world is unlike any other. It's full of things that people from your world don't even believe in."

"I know! It's so amazing! It's beautiful and…"

"No, this world is more than just that. It has another side to it. A side that is terrifying and dangerous."

"What are you talking about?"

"Sometimes people from your world find portals to this world. You say you've seen familiar faces. This can only mean one thing. When you found one of the portals to this world, you sucked everyone around you into this world as well. You caused all of them to end up here with you."

"What? Everyone? You mean everyone from the set?"

"Yes, and now all of them are doomed. Doomed to be trapped here forever."

"What are you saying?"

"Now you may go."

"What?"

"I've said what I wanted to say. You may go now. I have nothing else to tell you." Kyoko slowly took a step back and turned to walk away.

Absolem's words circled Kyoko's mind. Doomed to be trapped here forever. A side that is terrifying and dangerous. She didn't understand what all this meant. As she kept walking and made her way out of the vines, she came up to one of the structures made by the trees. The branches had come together and formed a mansion, huge and beautiful.

Kyoko, quickly forgetting the caterpillar's words, looked up at the house, which was covered in amazing detail from top to bottom. It had several stained window fitted in the holes made between the branches. The windows were covered with several different types of pictures. There were two windows that were the largest. One of them showed a happy beautiful Wonderland filled with people with smiles and laughter. The other was dark and menacing stained with pictures of evil beings with scowls and deathly items in their hands. Kyoko peered at the windows, wondering why they showed such different things.

As Kyoko continued to stare, the door of the house opened. Kyoko turned to look and gasped as she saw a huge pair of white fluffy feet stepping closer to her. She quickly dodged the feet and looked up to see a rabbit wearing a vest coat and glasses.

"Excuse me." Kyoko called up to the rabbit, but he didn't take notice and began hopping away.

"Wait!" Kyoko yelled out and ran after the rabbit, but to no luck, he was too fast for Kyoko's little legs and left. She walked back to the mansion and noticed the door has been left open a little. She climbed on top of the step and peeked inside. Curious, she continued further, looking around the house. The house seemed strangely familiar. She glanced back and forth at all of the odd objects. A sarcophagus in a corner. A variety if strange, perhaps poisonous, plants aligned next to a wall. A huge medieval chandelier hanging from the ceiling. A huge anaconda lying on a floating bed in the pool in the middle of the room! Kyoko quickly hid behind a counter so the snake wouldn't see her. Where had she seen a place like this before? Suddenly she heard the door close. She peaked around the counter and saw that the huge bunny had returned.

"Natsuko-chan, have you eaten today?" Who was he talking to? The snake?

"Hey! Excuse me!" Kyoko ran out from behind the counter and tried to get the rabbit's attention again. But once again he ignored her.

"HEY!" Kyoko yelled out as loud as she possibly could.

"Natsuko, did you hear that?" The rabbit looked around.

"Down here! Down here!" Kyoko jumped up and down while yelling. And finally, the rabbit looked down at her.

"Oh! Natsuko? It this one of your little snacks?" The rabbit picked up Kyoko and looked at her.

"No! No! I'm not a snack, I'm…" Kyoko paused as she observed the rabbit's face up close. Behind all the fur and he pink nose, she felt like she had seen this face before.

"Pr-president?"

"You're the president? The president of what?"

"No! President! It's me Kyoko! What happened to you?"

"What? Nothing happened to me. In any case, you're wasting my time! Natsuko, do you want this?" The snake slowly lifted its head looking at its master with sleepy eyes.

"Noooo!" Kyoko clung to one of the rabbit's finger.

"President!"

"Ok, ok here." The rabbit put her down on a little table. Kyoko steadied her feet and took a sigh of relief as the bunny hopped away towards his pet snake. She noticed a compact mirror on the table and struggled and pushed open the lid so she could admire her new dress. Once open, she peeked into the mirror, but doing so, she suddenly started to grow and the table tipped over as she became too big for it. She kept growing and growing and quickly became too big for the mansion. Her head pressed against the ceiling as it started to crack.

"W-what happened? Did you look into my mirror? Oh no! You're ruining my house!" The rabbit yelled at Kyoko in panic. And just like that, Kyoko split open the roof with her head.

"Bu hu hu!" The rabbit's tears watered up and he pouted as he looked at his destroyed house.

"Get out! Get out of here right now!" Kyoko quickly climbed out of the house and ran away from the now fuming rabbit.

Kyoko decided to keep trying to look for Corn. But Wonderland was starting to seem different now. Night was falling. As Kyoko walked, she felt as if eyes were watching her. The sky was no longer shining in silver light, but was slowly turning darker and darker, emitting an unpleasant red glow. All of the trees around her no longer looked serene and beautiful, but were large willow trees, howling in anger as the wind blew. Kyoko wrapped her arms around her and hung her head down, suddenly feeling a chill run up her spine.

Kyoko.

Kyoko heard her name whistling in the cold breeze. She tightened her hold around herself as she continued walking.

Kyoko. Kyoko. Kyoko.

Her name kept repeating around her. She clamped her hands on her ears and tightly shut her eyes, trying to block everything out.

"Stop it! Stop it!" She all of a sudden heard rustling in the bushes and stopped in her tracks. She froze as a large paw stepped out of the bushes and she heard a snarl. Kyoko gasped and threw her hands to her mouth. The wild animal advanced towards her. Kyoko slowly put her hand in her pocket as her fingers curled around the little bell. She took it out and rang it. The animal, displeased by the sound, growled and charged towards her. Kyoko turned and ran as fast as her legs could take her, ringing her bell all the while. When she could no longer hear the growls, she stopped.

She looked around at the now terrifying world. It was no longer the enchanted dreamland. Looking around she noticed a figure. It was proceeding slowly towards her. Kyoko didn't move. She just watched him. From his hat on his head, down to his shoes. That leg length, the way he walked, the width of his arms. She knew them.

"Tsuruga-san?"

The figure found itself behind her in a sudden movement. Kyoko had no means of escaping as the figure's arm was wrapped around her neck and the tip of a knife pressed against her cheek.

"Ts-Tsuruga-san, what are you doing?"

"Kyoko…" His face close to her ear, he whispered her name in his raspy voice. His breath hot on her face.

"How does it feel, to be so close to death, so close that you can already taste it." Kyoko was frozen in fear. She gasped as a sting of pain ran throughout her body as the blade scraped her cheek. The figure let go of her and she put her hand up to her face, feeling the blood trickling down. The figure beside her chuckled as it lifted its blade up high. Kyoko was more scared than she had ever been in her life. The time Reino had trapped her in the woods was nothing compared to the fear she felt now. The figure smirked an evil, threatening grin. She did the only thing she could. She turned and started running. She kept running and running until her legs were sore and she was out of breath. It had begun raining. She could hear the low rumbling of thunder in the distance. Each rain drop felt like a sharp needle on Kyoko's body. Even though she had ran so far, she could still hear the raspy voice calling out her name. She was scared. She wanted to go back home. But she didn't know how. She noticed the tangle of a thorny flower garden to her left. She realized that, even though they looked different, these flowers were the same ones she had spoken to. That meant that the door she had come through was close. She looked around desperately and saw the door. She fell to her knees before the now tiny door.

"Please, please let me through. I don't want to stay here anymore." Tears streamed down her face. She covered her face with her hands as she sobbed. Suddenly a little box of make-up appeared in front of her. It was the same box she had used before. A new hope awakening in her, he grabbed the box and opened it. She quickly dabbed a sponge into the eye shadow and lifted it to her eyelids to apply it. But her hands stopped. Doomed to be trapped here forever. Absolem's words came rushing back to Kyoko. She couldn't go back. She couldn't just leave her friends here. She had to help them, save them. Maria, Sawara, President…Tsuruga-san, all of them. She couldn't leave without finding a way to help them first. And she was trapped here until she did.

This chapter turned out really long, but I worked hard on it so I hope everyone liked it. Please review so I know what everyone thinks of this. Thanks for reading!